Millers slip to friendly defeat....
Rotherham United continued their Sky Bet Championship preparations with a useful workout against fellow Championship outfit, Middlesbrough, but goals either side of the interval settled the friendly encounter in the favour of Michael Carrick’s side.
Following their Spanish pre-season trip, the Millers returned to the AESSEAL New York Stadium for their first home friendly of the season and the home fans got their first glimpse of Portuguese midfielder Cafu, who put pen-to-paper on a summer move following his release from Nottingham Forest.
Goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, who joined from Cardiff City, was named on the bench alongside a host of Academy youngsters.
Former Millers’ favourites, Dan Barlaser – who was orchestrating affairs in the ‘Boro engine room and Matt Crooks, who was among the visiting replacements, were given a generous ovation prior to kick-off from the home faithful.
Cafu showed he was comfortable with the ball at his feet with a lovely turn and pass on halfway in the early seconds but it was Middlesbrough, who were rewarded for a fast start when they opened the scoring in their first real attack of note on six minutes.
Sammy Silvera injected pace into a visitors move on the edge of the box before fizzing a ball into Hayden Coulson, who, in turn found the Australian midfielder, while bisecting the Rotherham rearguard in the process, and Silvera kept his nerve to slide the ball past the advancing Viktor Johansson and find the heart of the home goal.
‘Boro came close to making it two soon after but Johansson did well at full stretch to deny Morgan Rogers before Rogers tapped home from close range following Silvera’s assist but the assistant referee came to Rotherham’s rescue with a timely offside award.
Grant Hall – who made his Millers move permanent in the summer following a successful loan spell - had to put in a last-ditch block against his former employees to deny Izzy Jones from a tight angle before Johansson was called into action once again to deny Rogers after good work by Hayden Hackney in the build-up.
The Millers, who were decidedly second best for much of the first half, had their first glimpse of goal when the Trialist took Ben Wiles’ pass into his stride before darting into the box but Coulson bravely blocked his low effort at close quarters.
The home side were making a better fist of things and Cafu whetted the appetite of the Millers fans with some lovely touches in the middle of the park.
Nevertheless, Middlesbrough should have doubled their lead in the run-up to half-time when Johansson won the battle of wills with firstly Silvera, and then Rogers in the half’s last act with a fine, low save.
Half-time: Rotherham United 0 Middlesbrough 1
The North-East outfit came out with a new look starting eleven for the second 45 while Millers boss Matt Taylor just made a solitary change with Curtis Durose introduced at the expense of Cafu.
It may have been a different ‘Boro side, but it was arguably more of the same when Hall was forced into an early block before Crooks almost made an immediate impression when he latched onto a ball over the top to lob an effort over Johansson but Tyler Blackett was on-hand to clear the danger from near his own line.
Johansson then got the better of his former colleague, Crooks, with a low, smothered save.
The sting had been taken out of the friendly encounter and the Millers, this time, made seven changes on the 70 minute mark.
The game sprang to life momentarily when Riley McGree’s inch-perfect ball found Alex Gilbert – who had just replaced Crooks – but Johansson sped off his line to deny him before McGree tried an audacious lob to target the unguarded Millers net but Sean Morrison showed great awareness and agility to hack clear from just underneath his own crossbar.
One of Rotherham’s newly-introduced youngsters, Ben Hatton, had a glimpse of goal but Tom Glover, in the ‘Boro goal, was quick off his line to prevent him shooting goalwards.
Hatton then failed to trouble the target with a wayward effort following Ciaran McGuckin’s cross.
The visitors extinguished any hopes of a Millers fightback with a second goal in the final few minutes when Matthew Hoppe’s slide rule pass paved the way for Gilbert to pick his spot and find the bottom corner of the home net with a smart finish.
Full-time: Rotherham United 0 Middlesbrough 2
Rotherham United 0
Middlesbrough 2
Teams: Rotherham- Johansson, Bramall (Bola 70), Blackett (McCart 70), Cafu (Durose 46), Wiles (Hatton 70), Hugill (McGuckin 61), Rathbone (Douglas 70), Hall (Morrison 61), Odoffin (Seisay 70), Humphreys (Hull 70), Trialist (Abraham 70). Unused- Phillips, Holvey, Giwa.
Middlesbrough- Dieng (Glover 46), Smith (Collins 46), Barlaser (Fry 46), Van den Berg (McGree 46), Hackney (Sykes 46), I Jones (Stott 46), Piyero (Hoppe 46), Silvera (Agyemang 46), Rogers (Hannah 46), Coulson (Forss 46), Lenihan (Crooks 46, Gilbert 70). Unused- Bilongo, J Jones.
Referee- T Bramall
Attendance- 2017 (489)